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Shostakovich’s interest in preludes and fugues dates back to when he was one of the jury members of the Leipzig International Bach Competition 1950. Whilst there, Shostakovich became captivated by Well-Tempered Clavier Books I and II, especially Tatiana Nikolayeva’s interpretation. He was exceedingly impressed with her playing that upon his return to Moscow, he plunged into the composition of his own cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues (Op. 87). During the four-month compositional process, he communicated with Nikolayeva daily and played the piece he had just written to her, developing an intimate friendship. With much of his music absorbed, she undertook the cycle’s public premiere in 1952 and has championed it ever since… [301 more words]

Many keyboard sonatas of Haydn were custom-made for the dedicatees, usually female students. This work is not an exception; it was dedicated to two of his talented students who owned excellent techniques - Katharina and Marianna von Auenbrugger. When composing this sonata, Haydn was mindful of their high abilities, it therefore presents considerable virtuosic demand. The work sounded very advanced to Haydn’s contemporaries, perhaps suggesting why he did not see fit to have it published until 1780, nearly ten years after the date that the autograph bears… [343 more words]

Lionised as a pianist and feted as a composer, Grainger had written about ninety solo piano music. Among these works, one-third of them, including Country Gardens, are based on music composed by others. The Morris Dance tune that this piano setting is based on was provided by Cecil Sharp in 1908. Upon receiving it, Grainger roughly sketched it for two whistlers and a few instruments for accompaniment. It had not been worked out for piano until ten years later… [345 more words]

The original of this consoling piece is the last movement from Bach’s Cantata No. 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben. The underlying chorale melody was extracted from Johann Schop’s Werde munter, mein Gemüthe (1642). Bach harmonised it for chorus, with trumpet doubling the melody, and strings, continuo as well as oboes accompanying… [135 more words]

During the interwar period, certain composers revived the Classical aesthetics to replace the exaggerated emotionalism and formlessness of the late Romantic era. Whilst they drew inspiration from music of earlier centuries, they often employed twentieth century tonal and rhythmic devices, resulting in the Neo-classicism. Some of these composers, such as Viderø, were found particularly influenced by Baroque traits; hence, their compositions are called neo-Baroque music… [126 more words]

Grew up in an environment surrounded by intellectuals such as ecclesiastical professionals, Stanford was devoted to the Anglican Church and wrote a substantial number of church music. Interestingly, he often wrote these music symphonically thanks to his proficiency in combining his skills in orchestrating and symphony writing. His talent had yielded movements of structural imagination and a symphonic thinking, particularly apparent in compositions written in his later years including this Postlude… [449 more words]

Between 1847 and 1852, Liszt composed the piano cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, a title borrowed from one of Alphonse de Lamartine’s volumes of poetry. This cycle contains ten character pieces and the Bénédiction is the most expansive of them all… [356 more words]

Bach’s ability to combine French, Italian, and German essences in one composition is beautifully demonstrated in his six English Suites. The title is misleading as these suites do not display any English qualities. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach’s first biographer, claimed that they were known by the name of the English Suites simply because Bach composed them for an Englishman of rank… [390 more words]

These fifteen songs are based on authentic folk tunes, but go beyond simple harmonisation in approach. To preserve the peasant songs’ original rustic ambience, Bartók remains faithful to the original song by refraining from adding any introductions or endings to these pieces despite their brevity… [171 more words]

Cavaillé-Coll was a distinguished organ builder; he brought technical innovations into organ building and ultimately built nearly 500 pipe organs, including the three-manual organ at Basilique Ste-Clotilde where Franck was the Church Organist. Franck’s huge interest in exploring this organ had eventually inspired him to compose six pieces including Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18… [269 more words]